Daria Kasatkina won just her fifth career match on grass, battling back from a set down to beat Alison Van Uytvanck in her second round match in Eastbourne, 5-7 6-4 6-1. My last live experience of watching Dasha in Melbs was rather disastrous so i’m really glad I got to see her finish with a flourish today.
I joined the match on Court 3 towards the end of the first set where Kasatkina played a shocker of a service game at *5-6 to drop the opener. All the credit to Van Uytvanck who was striking the ball really well and came up with some delightful drop shots. Kasatkina started the second set well with an early break but, as has often been the case, she struggled to maintain the aggressive gameplan. Coach, Philippe Dehaes was constantly shouting out support but wasn’t called onto court for a changeover chat. Kasatkina kept fighting and got the break again before saving a break point to serve out the second set with a roar.
Kasatkina improved significantly in the decider as she stayed aggressive on the forehand and sucessfully targeted the Van Uytvanck backhand corner. Van Uytvanck’s game rather disintegrated in a sea of unforced errors. Kasatkina failed to serve out the match, but broke for the win. There was even a Dasha tweener on her first match point!
Overall it was an enjoyable match although a shame that Van Uytvanck tailed off at the end in terms of it being competitive. Kasatkina came into press and it was great to talk to her for the first time.
I was intrigued to know how Kasatkina felt about grass. It seems that practices have been going well on grass but the matches are a different story.
Kasatkina recalled her first experience on grass which didn’t go so well 😂.
I asked Kasatkina about her next match on Wednesday against Anastasija Sevastova.
I’m always interested to know what the players think of Eastbourne. Kasatkina’s focus has been on tennis and the World Cup!
Kasatkina was asked who she was supporting at the World Cup.
But the focus for Dasha is always on the tennis!
Watching Dasha win and being able to talk to her in press was definitely the highlight of the day 🙂.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
That’s a great insight. She seems very pleasant
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